Title

Authors

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2012

Comments

Special Issue in Honour of Peter R. Taylor

Abstract

Vibrational anharmonicity and resonances frequently complicate assignment of vibrational spectra. In order to analyse such spectra, these effects can be calculated from ab initio quartic potential energy surfaces (PESs) using second-order vibrational theory with resonances (VPT2+K). This study compares the accuracies of using the cc-pVTZ basis set, the aug-cc-pVQZ basis set, and a hybrid approach that uses the cc-pVTZ basis set for the equilibrium geometry and quadratic force constants and the aug-cc-pVQZ basis set for the cubic and quartic force constants. Quartic PESs are computed using these basis sets for H2O, H2CO, HFCO, SCCl2, and their deuterated analogs with the CCSD(T) method. The computed PESs are assessed by comparing experimentally determined and theoretically calculated spectroscopic constants. The average absolute difference (h ) between theoretical and experimental zero-point energy-corrected harmonic frequencies (omega(0)(i)) decreases by 54.7% when the hybrid approach is used instead of the cc-pVTZ basis, but decreases by only an additional 2.3% when the aug-cc-pVQZ basis is used. The computed PESs are also assessed by comparing predicted and observed vibrational energy states. The weighted average root-mean-square (RMS) difference between predicted and observed vibrational energy levels decreases by 42.3% when the hybrid approach is used instead of cc-pVTZ, but decreases by only an additional 4.0% when aug-cc-pVQZ is used. These results demonstrate that calculations performed using the hybrid basis set approach, which have a substantially lower computational cost, are comparable in accuracy to those performed using the aug-cc-pVQZ basis set.

Recommended Citation

Davisson, John L., Nicole R. Brinkmann and William F. Polik. "Accurate and Efficient Calculation of Excited Vibrational States from Quartic Potential Energy Surfaces." Molecular Physics: An International Journal at the Interface Between Chemistry and Physics 110, no. 20 (2012): 2587-2598.